I held my breath as my brain tried to push away the implications. “How come… why are they only finding out about it now?”
“Because she didn’t have any ID on her when they found her body. She was in the morgue as a Jane Doe-”
“Does the paperwork say why they only just found her?”
“I didn’t get any of this from discovery. I got it on the news. It’s everywhere. On TV, the Daily Beast, Deadline, Twitter.”
I wanted to bang my head on the dashboard. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Yeah, that’s me, always kidding about dead hookers. Anyway, I’m guessing Zack will fill you in. He just called a few minutes ago.”
“Did they say how long after the rape charge she got killed?”
Michelle sighed. “Yeah. They said it was about a week after she made the report.”
I ended the call and sat staring through the windshield. I felt sick as the obvious connection sank in. Dale had one hell of a motive to kill this woman. And the timing was hideously perfect.
“Goddamn it!” I leaned forward and put my head in my hands. I felt like a mountain had just rolled on top of me.
Alex sighed. “I know the timing looks bad, but Dale wasn’t the only one who had a reason to hate her. This lady had a lot of enemies, Samantha.”
“But none of them had been accused of raping her, and none of them stood a chance of losing his career because of her.”
“The DA can’t put this in at the trial, can he?”
“It doesn’t matter. If our jury pool thinks Dale killed one woman…”
Alex swore softly. “So now it’s not just the rape. We’ve got another murder to get him out of.”
I nodded, too miserable to speak. And we didn’t have much time. The indictment would come down any day now, which meant we’d be in trial within sixty days. “We’d better head to Twin Towers and find out what Dale has to say about all this.”
I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to have to confront the fact that he’d probably held out on me again. And lied straight to my face about it again. The thought of having to see his earnest expression, to hear his “heartfelt” apology, made my stomach turn. And just like all the other times, it’d be nothing more than the command performance of a sociopath.
While Alex drove, I took out my cell and found Zack’s number. I wasn’t anxious to talk to him. But I needed to get some information before I saw Dale.
“DA’s office, Zack Chastain.”
“It’s Samantha-”
“I didn’t let this story out. I don’t know who-”
“Okay, whatever.” Jenny Knox’s murder was a matter of public record. Anyone could’ve dropped a dime on this one. “When and where was the body found, and what’s the time of death?” I was back in lawyer mode, searching for the gaps. If Dale had any kind of alibi, I could muddy the waters.
“Hang on.” I heard papers shuffling. “They found her at a little after five a.m. on January eighth. She was in a dumpster on Selma Street in Hollywood. Coroner makes her time of death anywhere after ten p.m. on the seventh, to two or three a.m. on the eighth.”
“What’ve you got on the suspect? Any prints? DNA? Fibers?”
“Not that I know of so far. They’re going back over everything.”
“How come they just found her now?”
“I told my IO to rerun all the Jane Doe prints from the coroner’s office in the past year. But I’m giving you fair warning-if I can tie this to Dale, I’m going to try and get it in at trial.”
And if he succeeded, we’d be toast. I heard someone in the background telling Zack the meeting was starting. “I’ve gotta jet,” he said. “Just so you know, the sheriffs are moving on the leak investigation. I gave them my statement yesterday.” He paused for a brief moment, then cleared his throat. “I keep forgetting how messed up this whole thing must be for you. I can’t imagine what it’s like.”
“Yeah, me neither. When are we going to get the reports?”
“You’ll get everything we’ve got in the next hour-”
“Okay, thanks-”
“Wait.” He cleared his throat. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry about that low blow in court. About this being too personal for you and… all that. It was over the line.”
Was he trying to soften me up for the kill? Trying to get me to let my guard down? Or… unbelievable and improbable as it was, did he really mean it? “Thanks.”
I spent the rest of the ride downtown fantasizing about the ideal alibi. That Dale would say he’d been working at a soup kitchen for the homeless that night, or working at a shelter for runaways, or providing free security at a fund-raising party for the oncology ward of Children’s Hospital.
Since he’d never done any of the above-or anything remotely like it-I knew these fantasies were unlikely to materialize. As a backup, I’d settle for him being tied up at another crime scene where fifty cop-hating (makes the alibi more credible) civilians had seen him. But hell, let’s face it, five civilians… or three… or even one old drunk would do.
Alex paused as we neared the entrance to Twin Towers. “Samantha, I don’t mind waiting out here if you want-”
“No. You’re investigating this case. You need to hear what he has to say about this.” And I didn’t want to be alone with Dale.
I could feel the acid churning in my stomach as we made our way up to the attorney room. It was the rape charge all over again-but worse, so much worse. I didn’t want to believe Dale had killed Jenny Knox, but I knew the odds were that he had. No matter what he said. I couldn’t let myself fall for his act again. Having my belief in him get shattered over and over had left me feeling bruised and battered inside. I couldn’t do it anymore.
When the guards brought Dale up, he was smiling. He didn’t know. Good. It’d give me a chance to gauge his reaction.
I picked up the phone. “They found Jenny Knox.” I paused and watched his face. “She’s dead.”
His eyes widened. “What? How the fu…” He rubbed his forehead. It took him a few seconds before he looked up again. “Who killed her?”
I stared at him.
He leaned forward and put a hand on the glass between us. “Samantha, I didn’t do this. I swear. You’ve got to believe me.”
It was a good performance. But then again, it always was. I waved the “Lawyer 101” flag. “It doesn’t matter what I believe. Your jury pool is going to think you did it because you had the motive. I heard she was strangled, but I haven’t seen the autopsy report yet. I need you to think back about what your schedule was like a year ago. Specifically on the night of January seventh into the early morning hours of January eighth.”
“What day of the week-”
“Tuesday.” I paused to give him time to dredge up any memories. “Do you have any idea whether you might’ve been on call?”
He stared over my shoulder for a few seconds. “I could’ve been. But I’m not sure.”
“And I guess you can’t remember right now whether you were at a crime scene.” He thought for a moment, then shook his head. I didn’t really expect him to. It’d been more than a year ago. “I’ll get your work records from the department. Assuming for now that you weren’t at a crime scene, who were you most likely to have been hanging out with?”
He rubbed his temple. “Rick Saunders… Nate Flemming… Ignacio Silva… Larry Scofield.” He paused and stared at the counter in front of him for a few seconds, then shook his head. “That’s all I can think of.”
Alex wrote down the names.
“Are they all detectives?” He nodded. “In Hollywood?”
“Rick and Nate are. Ignacio’s in Rampart, and Larry is… I’m not sure where he is now. He was hoping to transfer out to Wilshire Division.” He ran a hand through his hair, which made it stand up on top.